The History of Chicago Siena High School Chicago (population: 2.8 million) is located on the shores of Lake Michigan, and is the third largest city in the United States. Various interstate, state, & US highways travel thru the “Windy City” along with several railroad carriers. O’Hare International Airport is one of the busiest terminals in the world, and handles a great deal of air traffic on a daily basis. The Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers still provide an outlet for water traffic if chosen by those wish to travel by that mode. “The City of Big Shoulders” was founded in 1803 as Fort Dearborn, then grew slowly until it was recognized as a city in 1837. Although it may have suffered a setback in 1871 to the Great Chicago Fire, the city pulled itself up by its own bootstraps to rebuild, gaining many immigrants from various European countries and hosted the Columbian Exposition in 1893. By then, Chicago had grown even more to the point that it became the fastest growing city in the US during the second half of the 19th Century. Siena High School was an all-girls’ school located on the city’s West Side with a beginning that stretched back to 1895. The school opened as St. Catherine’s Academy at Woodbury House on Central Avenue near Washington Boulevard as a K-8 co-ed grade school in addition to the all-girls’ high school. The Sisters of Mercy were in charge of the school as a new brick building was erected in 1897 to serve the Austin neighborhood along with students from Oak Park, River Forest, Maywood, and other western suburbs. The school name changed in 1912 to St. Catherine High School as it became chartered with the state of Illinois. By 1917, the high school section had grown so much that the grade school was discontinued, and on October 12, 1925, a new building was opened by the Archdiocese of Chicago as a central girls’ high school on the West Side. In 1931, another name change took place as St. Catherine became Siena High School, in order to distinguish itself from three other St. Catherine’s schools that were on the same side of the city. The name Siena comes from St. Catherine of Siena, who lived in Italy during the late Middle Ages from 1347-1380. More about her life can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Siena. Following World War II, the enrollment of Siena began to increase steadily that it reached 522 in 1952 and the Sisters of Mercy were already putting plans into motion to build a one million dollar expansion that would hold one thousand students. When the building opened one year later, the school’s enrollment continued to climb to the point that 1,158 were in classes in 1958-59. When the enrollment stayed in that area, an extended day plan was implemented from 1962-64 to relieve the overcrowding. The enrollment tapered off in the late ’60s due to a changing neighborhood and reached a point that the school building was sold to the Chicago Public School system in 1973. Those remaining students were moved into vacated classrooms at St. Lucy’s Grade School on Lake Street to ease the financial burdens that the school was saddled with at the time. However, it was too late and the final class of Siena (48 in all) received their diplomas in the school’s final graduation exercises in the spring of 1977. Siena High School alumnae are being invited to join with alums from St. Lucy School in Oak Park for the 125th anniversary of St. Lucy’s Parish. Here’s more from the parish director or marketing and development, Lisa Rieger: “We are in the throes of planning for the 125th anniversary of our parish and would really love to have your group from 1960 included in the events and happenings here. I realize that your (school) combined with St. Catherine’s in the ’70s, but St. Lucy’s is still very much a proud part of how we identify our parish to this day. “I would greatly appreciate any information or connections you could offer to us. We have already begun to plan for several of our events for 2014. Our school website also has an “alumni” section where you can sign up for specific committees and events for our anniversary celebration. Here is the link: |
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